My co-worker Melisa Lunt is a delight to work with, and it turns out she is a fantastic artist as well. Here is a wall-sized painting she did for a friend, which employs the use of bottle caps for the suckers on the tenticles. How awesome is that?

In just a few days I am headed off to Colorado for a work conference, a location not particularly noted for its native octopodes. The mascot for the conference is a yeti, though, so I searched for images of a yeti and an octopus in mortal combat. Instead, I found this bit of unbearable cuteness.

October the 8th is World Octopus Day, because of course it is. Today I happened to be walking through Epcot at Walt Disney World and passed a very nice man with an amazing octopus sleeve tattoo, and he was kind enough to let me take a picture. Check it out:

I haven't posted a new picture here in what seems like forever. I feel bad about that, like I have been misbehaving. So I did a google image search for "delinquent octopus" and was not disappointed. Thank you, Time Magazine.

So, I'm kind of a Doctor Who geek. I have another blog over at TimeTreadmill.com on that very subject, in which I am watching the entirety of Doctor Who while walking on a treadmill. I am also, as you might have noticed, an octopus geek. Here, then, is a custom tattoo design that takes the Eye of Rassillon from my favorite television show and converts it into an octopus. I am all aquiver.

Over the weekend I received my copy of Jonathan Crow's very excellent coffee table book Veeptopus: Vice Presidents with Octopuses on their Heads, and I have to say it is truly a thing of beauty. I must heartly recommend that you follow the link and purchase your very own copy. You might even learn a thing or two about American history. I surely did.

I am very saddened at the news today of George Romero's passing. It is no exageration to say that his work as a filmmaker played a formative role in my love of horror films. The work he did, particulary in the late 60's through the mid-80's, is staggeringly brilliant. Zombies may or may not be your thing, but the simple truth is that he personally had a massive impact on American pop culture - an impact that continues to echo today and presumably well into the future.

I haven't been able to identify the artist of this piece. If you happen to know, please drop me a line at ron@jamesaxler.com so that I can give proper credit.

Check out this brand new sign that artist Joshua Blewett carved for the city of Long Beach in Washington State. I am a Seattle boy, born and raised, and have been to Long Beach many times. If you are ever in the great Pacific Northwest, I highly recommend a visit.

Our air conditioning has gone out here at Shmoolok Estates, and in Central Florida in July that is no trivlal thing. It's a wee bit warm and drippin in here, much like this amazing pop art octopus painted by Carissa Weber:

Artist David Brodeur, @lockedandloading on Instagram or LockedAndLoading.com, creates amazing organic designs both practical and virtual. For his Invasion series he has placed several different octopus-like alien things out in real-world settings, and the result is visceral and hypnotic. You really have to go visit the Instragram page and see the animated versions to see them pulsing and throbbing. Wow! (source)

I don't know whether this image was created by Brian Kesinger (of Otto & Victoria fame, and whose work I have featured here several times), or if he just found it and posted it. But it's the best, most patriotic thing I have seen all day:

Sometimes inspiration for this blog is as close as my wife's bookshelf. True story: I knew she was the girl for me the first time I went to her home and saw she had a complete set of Doc Savage novels. True love, right there.

(BTW - if you are into Doctor Who, you might like to check out my Time Treadmill blog in which I am posting daily about my mission to watch the entirety of Doctor who - all 833 episodes and counting - while walking on a treadmill. So far I have lost nearly 35 lbs, and I am not even through the Second Doctor yet.)